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April 15, 2020 The G20 reaches out to the poorest countries struggling with coronavirus. And it approves a temporary moratorium on debt, effectively suspending payments starting May 1."We support a temporary suspension of debt payment services for the poorest countries. All official bilateral creditors will participate in the initiative. We ask private creditors to participate in the initiative in similar terms", reads a note released by financial ministers and by the governors of the G20 central banks, gathered virtually under the presidency of Saudi Arabia, which talks about an initiative worth 20 billion dollars.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank applaud the moratorium. "It is a powerful and fast initiative that will do much to save the lives of millions of people in the weakest countries," say Kristalina Georgieva and David Malpass.
Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri is satisfied: "Today at the G20 we approved an action plan to respond in a coordinated way to the challenges of Covid19. Defense of health, support for economies and moratorium on the debts of the poorest countries are at the center of this plan that commits everyone to use every means to get out of the crisis "Tweet Gualtieri.
The German finance minister, Olaf Scholz, speaks of "historic international solidarity act". It is in fact a very important agreement because the G20 includes some of the major creditors of the poorest countries, primarily China with the Belt and Road Initiative. The moratorium allows poorer countries to free up resources to cope with the coronavirus emergency.